How much product from a 25l wash??

[Robj]

Hi all,
I've got 2 grain and LME 25l washes, how much low wines should I expect from each run and then how much product should I expect at the end?? Would be gratefully for any feed back, cheers.

[Linny]

you havent mentioned how much ldme you have used ,,, have you used a recipe calculator such as http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/r ... alculator/

i think you have to change the brewers efficiency to 100% to get ballpark of a kettle efficiency of 75-80%

[Dominator]

It depends on the wash ABV and what ABV your still produces at. A ball park figure for a 25L wash at 11%ABV stripped through a pot still will give you around 5-7L of low wines.

[SBB]

how much low wines should I expect from each run

Best way to find that out is run it, strip it till the output is down around 20-25% ABV. If you strip with a pot still the average of the total output should be around 40% give or take 5%.

[BackyardBrewer]

Ah this old chestnut, often gets asked here.

Say you hit 10% abv in a 25L wash. The most - *most* you can pull out is 2.5L of alcohol. Now consider that you only pull 93-95% at best in a reflux still, and that you can't ever get every drop of alcohol out of the wash then your end product can't ever be more than 2.5 litres in a perfect world and that's before cuts and turfing heads or tails.

So in a pot still or bubbler your haul of 90%+ or maybe @95% in a reflux would usually be on or under 2L at best.

[Dominator]

Sorry, I forgot to answer the other half of your question. As BB said, the question is an old chestnut and there really are a lot of variables. From wash type and ingedients to still type and how you run it, not to mention how you make your cuts, all will affect your end results.
As above, a 25L wash at 10% has 2.5L of alcohol, your never going to collect it all and your going to chuck your foreshots straight away so lets call it an even 2L of alcohol @ 100%. Bring it down to 40% = 5L. A very rough guide for cuts is you will keep 1/3 of your distillate as hearts = 1.7L @ 40%
In saying this, a pot still will result in more smearing which will reduce your hearts cut, a reflux still will better seperate your fractions, resulting in a larger hearts cut.
Back in my pot stilling days I used to get approx 3L of drinking stock from a 50L batch of McRum.

[Robj]

This all makes sense, I done a couple of AG batches but ran one in my t500 reflux and got 2l at 90% but stunk of sulphur, then ran the other in my pot still and got 2.5 at 30% and tried to salvage it by adding some of the smelly stuff and leaving it with oak. I now realise that my first pot still run was a stripping run for low wines, I had read all this but got lost in the moment, I'll put it all back through to see how it goes. AG was 4kg cracked pale malt in 18l water with 12lb lme, pitched with 6g brewers yeast, SG 1086, stopped at 1028 which was 8.27%. My new plan is 4kg crushed malt mashed then add 1.8kg tin of lme in 20l water (I use bolted water but is tap ok??), I'm going to do 2 of these and then strip run them both and stick the low wines I have back in a make 200ml cuts, I'm making one if those copper funnels which the alchometer sits in so I can record each jar, am I wasting my time here or should this work to some degree???? Cheers for the help guys, appreciate it ;-)

[SBB]

making one if those copper funnels which the alchometer sits in so I can record each jar, am I wasting my time here or should this work to some degree????

200 ml cuts if your new to it is a good idea.
If you mean your going to try and make your cuts by ABV you might be disappointed, your nose and sence of smell are your best friends here, If you get confused walk away, come back to your jars later and try again. It takes practice but you will get it in the end.
Does your pot still run off the T500 boiler or something else? If it is running on a t500 boiler it might be a bit fast for a spirit run, dunno as Ive never tried it, have only ever stripped with one. My gut feeling is they are to fast without some sort of controller to slow them down a bit.

[Robj]

Cheers for that mate, I've got a controller on the t500 boiler but I don't know what temp to set it at to slow it down? I'm going to record the ABV for my records but yes I'll b smelling and tasting to see which are best, sure I'll get there eventually, great fun trying the, get plenty of help on here like, take it easy bud

[SBB]

You dont need to worry about a specific temp, worry more about what speed the product is leaving the end of the condenser. Fiddle with your controller until you get a good slow stream, at a rough guess about half of the speed that it leaves the still on a strip run.
If you can cut it back to a fast drip at the beginning of the run you should get better separation of foreshots and heads.
Its kinda hard as a newbie to get your head around the fact that you cant control the temperature of a pot still, you can only control how hard / fast it boils.

[Robj]

Cheers again for that bud, I've been having a look around and I guessed that was the case, I'm going to have a mess about and see what happens, I'll post my results back on here, take care ;-)

[FireKitty]

When I started stilling, local HBS told me its about 1L of 40% per kg of sugar... probably before cuts I'm guessing.

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[Sam.]

When I started stilling, local HBS told me its about 1L of 40% per kg of sugar... probably before cuts I'm guessing.

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Yep that's about right and it is definitely before cuts. Of course it all depends on what % it fermented out to :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Robj]

Cheers for that

[Robj]

Does anyone know the best way to clean my pot head, I've done a vinegar run and after that I stuck the Liebig out the window and just let the water boil and puff out the steam for an hour. Would b good to know of any other ways, cheers

[Zak Griffin]

Run a sacrificial alcohol run through it... A box of cheap wine or a few litres of neutral wash.

[Robj]

Cheers zac, got a batch of wine that I've spoilt so that gan in chsmpion